Marriage and Family Counselling Theory Project

As such, family therapists applying the structural family theory aim at incorporating the entire family system into the therapy so as to be able to understand the unsaid rules governing its functionality, to map the relationships between the different subsets within the family or the different members of the family and ultimately to disrupt the relationships within the family that are deemed as dysfunctional thereby stabilizing them into better and healthier patterns (Vetere, 2001). As its name suggests, the main focus of the theory is the family structure, including the different substructures within it. The main goal of the structural therapy model is usually to prevent unhealthy sequences within the family from repeating themselves by interrupting the hidden hierarchical structure of the family.

This is usually done by redistribution of power by shifting it to other members of the family by altering the nature of interaction between the different members of the family. Another goal of this therapy model is to provide better alternative ways through which conflicts arising within the family may be resolved and through which healthier interactions within the family may be achieved (Vetere, 2001). After completion of his undergraduate studies in medicine, Minuchin served in the Israeli army and later moved to the city of New York where he trained as a child psychiatrist with Nathan Ackerman. Upon completion of this training, he moved back to Israel where he offered child psychiatry services to displaced children before returning to the United States to train for psychoanalysis.

After the psychoanalytic training, Minuchin began to work in the Wiltwyck School that dealt with delinquent boys (Fiore, 2017). It was during his tenure in this institution that he decided that treating the whole families of the delinquent boys would be more worthwhile. Together with his co-workers, Minuchin came up with a model of family therapy that was achieved by having one group of psychiatrists having therapy sessions including family members while the other therapists observed the session. Persons with autism may communicate non-verbally, verbally, or both. They also tend to follow certain repetitive and restricted motor mechanisms. While children with autism are as interested in friendship as other children, they lack the social skills required to build friendships and are consequently unable to relate with those around them.

They also display sensory behaviors such as excessive spinning, twirling or rocking in an attempt to self-stimulate. They are also highly sensitive to sound and will often be seen covering their ears or using headsets to block off the noise. Siblings too experience a lot of stress. First, they may experience embarrassment around their peers and will, therefore, resort to being reluctant towards bringing their peers around their autistic sibling, and this affects their relationships (Orsmond & Seltzer, 2007). Secondly, parents will naturally spend more time with the autistic child than with their other children, and this may result in feelings of jealousy and hatred for the autistic child (Hartmann, 2012). Thirdly, they may experience difficulty when trying to interact with their autistic sibling especially due to the aggressiveness that is characteristic of persons with autism, and this is frustrating to the siblings.

The siblings will also be affected negatively by the grief and stress that their parents are going through. Through the structural family therapy, the family members will also get a platform to have other concerns pertaining to the condition addressed. References Fiore, F. (November 4, 2017). Salvador Minicin, Psychiatrist who Revolutionized Family Therapy, Dies at 96. The Washington Post. Thomas University: School of Social Work. Hooyman, N. , & Kramer, B. Living through loss: Interventions across the life span. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. , & Seltzer, M. “Siblings of individuals with autism spectrum disorders across the life course. ” Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, Vol. 13, No. doi: 10. (October 11, 2015). Family Therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Cochrane Developmental, Psychosocial and Learning Problems Group. http://cochranelibrary-wiley. com/doi/10/1002/14651858.